Wherever the Current Leads
by I'mmaDeadMan
Summary: Honestly, I suck at summaries, but essentially here's the gist - after a botched summoning ritual, an Abyssal Battleship is raised from the depths of the North Sea with little to no understanding of the world around her, or even her purpose there. Her only real goal, it seems, is to survive - something that is proving quite difficult as it seems quite a few people(?) want her dead
1. Chapter 1

It all began with a botched summoning ritual.

/-/

My eyes snapped open, revealing to me a world of near perpetual darkness. Far above I could see faint lights dancing about, tinted an eerie blue. The surface, if I had to guess.

My whole body shivered as the icy cold of the depths chilled me to my core.

Cold. That's something a lot of people forget about the ocean. Deep beneath the surface, where the sun doesn't shine, the water is cold and unforgiving. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to ignore it as information slammed into my head.

Geographical location, radar systems, sonar, displacement, main batteries, secondaries, anti-aircraft firepower, core temperature, boiler state. All of it rushed through my consciousness like a tidal wave, there and gone before I really knew what to make of it. One crucial piece of information did stick in my mind however, considering it was the most immediately important.

I was currently submerged deep underwater, and I was sinking.

I panicked, thrashing about in an effort to rise. My lungs cried out as my legs kicked backwards, struggling to push myself upwards. The water clung to me like cold grasping tendrils of some great beast, weighing me down and turning my limbs to lead.

Something tugged on my ankle, and I glanced down to see a shackle around my leg attached to a long, rusty chain. The links were taught as something from far below me, deep down in the darkness of the abyss, tugged on the chain.

I jerked in the water, almost letting go of my breath in a panicked scream.

_Come__._

A voice whispered to me in my head. It rattled around like the bones of a fish, pinging off my skull and sending shivers racing down my spine. Shivers that had nothing to do with the cold.

_Come to me. I worked so hard to wake you up, you owe me your fealty._

I struggled against the voice, shaking my head and yanking on the chain.

_No, you can't leave. Not yet. Not until I hear you say the words._

Yes, my Princess.

The words danced on the tip of my tongue, begging to be uttered. It was like a siren song for my pain addled brain, and for a moment I went slack in the water. Maybe I should listen. Why did I need to get to the surface again?

My lungs screamed out at me, reminding me harshly of my predicament.

Without another moments' hesitation I reached down and grabbed the shackle around my ankle and wrenched it off. The rusted metal tore free from my leg as it was yanked again, the thing from the deep giving another mighty tug. I began to kick for the surface

_I see. You are strong of will. It's possible I should have waited until conditions were more suitable to try and summon you._

The voice was angry now, chasing after me like a school of sharks. Deep below me I felt something stir, something cold, ancient, and incredibly annoyed with me.

_But it matters not. You are here, just like I wanted you to be. Stop this foolishness now. Submit._

I kicked my legs harder.

With a gasp I broke the surface, taking in lungfuls of fresh, salty air. My bellows roared as the sweet nectar of the sky filled my lungs, my long dead boilers finally awakening from their slumber. Water cascaded off of my body and out from every pore and hole I had, flooding out as my compartments ejected their contents and sealed the hatches. Within seconds I had once again become watertight and buoyant, resting easily upon the surface of the water like I'd always been meant to.

Deep within me I felt my core come to life, thrumming and humming like a powerful beast.

A sharp crack of lightning illuminated the sea around me. A storm was whipping the waves into a frenzy, causing swells as tall as undersea mountains to lurch and crash into each other like titans. The water churned beneath me, bubbles rising to the surface as something from far below chased me to the surface.

_You defy me? Bold, I will give you that. But I cannot permit a rival!_

I shook my head as the voice scratched along my brain, causing me no small amount of physical pain. I clutched my head and massaged my temples, hoping to relieve some of the stress that was building up behind my eyes.

A swell caught me, lifting me high into the air, just in time for a flash of lightning to illuminate several dark shapes rapidly bearing down on me.

My eyes widened in shock.

Another flash and I saw even more of them, their multicolored eyes staring at me with malevolent intent as they cut through the water. My mind was reminded of sharks to a feeding frenzy, their bows slicing through the waves like the fins of the ocean predator they so resembled.

Without pause I turned and ran. My boilers slowly began to work themselves into a rhythm, their long-dead bellows pumping powerfully as they were fed by my rapidly heating core. I plowed through the waves in mighty strides, turning up a surf of my own as I fled from the things on the horizon.

_You flee? Fool, you cannot get away._

I lengthened my stride, and it was only now that I began to realize that I was _fast. _My boilers were opened to their fullest, allowing me to sprint across the waves at speeds that far outmatched my pursuers. Coiling my legs I practically leapt from one swell to another, clearing the gaping chasm between the two even as more of those things began to crest the swell behind me.

_No! Come back!_

The voice was desperate, clawing at my mind with more than a hint of pleading. I could practically feel the thing surging forth from the ocean, trying to catch me before I escaped. But it was far too late for that, as I was already under full steam.

On and on I ran. The ocean rolled and bent, sending cold saltwater into my face over and over, but I didn't care. I ignored it and pushed onwards.

Lightning flashed, the wind howled, and the seas grew into an even greater tempest. I was tossed back and forth along the swells, every swell threatening to capsize me. Were I any lesser vessel I was sure that I would have sunk, but I pushed on, my bow cutting through the waves with an undeniable force.

After what seemed like an eternity the sea gradually began to calm. It was a slow affair, with the swells only losing their height inch by delicate inch, and the lightning above flashing ever so infrequently. It wasn't until the waves only came up to my chest that I dared to look behind me. The voice had faded long ago, along with the sense of encroaching dread. The black figures were nowhere to be seen on the horizon, and without even consciously checking my radar I knew for a fact that they weren't following me anymore.

My boilers were almost loath to cool down. After so long sitting inactive, it was as if they were afraid to stop running. I eventually slowed to half speed, but I didn't want to stop. I wouldn't feel safe until I'd put as much distance between myself and those things as I possibly could.

After another two hours of cruising speed -or at least that's what my ship's log read- I finally began to reach the edge of the cyclone. The storm clouds above me began to break, revealing the sky for the first time.

I stopped and caught my breath, hands on my knees as my boilers slowly wound down. My bellows were pumping heavily, trying to cool the poor overheated components. My crew began the process of standing down, the officers bellowing orders to the strange little seamen that composed my innards.

I froze as a ray of warmth touched my skin, and I glanced up to see a glorious ball of fire sitting low on the horizon.

The sun was beginning to set, the rays of light filtering through the scattered clouds and creating a mosaic of light across the sky. I shivered in delight as the warmth touched me, warming me for the first time in my life.

I smiled to myself, a giggle spilling from my lips. Honestly, I felt a little ridiculous, being so happy at just being warm, but it was a brand new experience for me. Sitting up I stretched, letting the corded ligaments in my spine snap and pop satisfactorily.

As the mirth slowly faded I glanced down at myself, for the first time getting a good look at my new body.

My skin was pale to the point of near-translucence, and had an almost oily sheen to it. I brushed a hand down the inside of my arm, marveling at the almost alabaster smoothness of my skin. It was like running my hand around the inside of clam-shell. My fingers were long and delicate things, tipped with tiny black nails that were filed to points.

On the back of my hand and running up the outside of my arms were long rows of corrugated black metal, which flexed and bent easily with my every movement. They were hard and unyielding, almost like black-iron gauntlets, and as if to contrast to my smooth skin they possessed an icy coldness that shocked me to the touch.

My legs were lean and well muscled, clad in long, thigh-high black boots constructed out of the same black metal that was covering my arms and hands. In fact, the rest of my clothing seemed to be made entirely out of the same material as well. I poked at the stuff, again shivering at just how cold it felt. A flick of the finger resulted in a soft pinging sound, indicating that it was indeed metal.

Well, at least I'd have excellent natural armor if anyone decided to start shooting at me.

My hands paused as they settled over the twin mounds on my chest. They were… satisfactorily sizeable.

For some reason that made me inordinately happy.

I glanced up as the light began to grow dimmer, taking with it the warmth I had been enjoying. The sun had just reached the horizon and was now beginning to sink, its massive disk rapidly falling below the waterline. I watched in awe as the brilliant circle finally dipped below the horizon, a final flash of green light illuminating the water for just a moment before it disappeared.

That was my first sunset.

For a minute I was speechless. I was still reeling from my awakening, and from the chase following immediately after, so to witness something so spectacular was more than a little jarring.

I glanced down at my hands again, flipping them over and admiring the duality of the pale white and obsidian black, and in that moment a thought occurred to me: I didn't even know what I was.

On the surface, yes, I did. I knew my displacement, my main battery caliber, and all the other assorted facts about my shape and size.

But that only told what I was _like, _not what I was.

I glanced back over my shoulder as the rumbling of thunder sounded behind me. The maelstrom I had escaped from loomed high into the sky, ominous and threatening violence. Self-reflection could wait, I decided. Right now I needed a place to rest up.

By the remaining light of the sun I could just make out a blurry shape on the edge of the horizon. It was too low to the waterline to be a cloud, and too motionless to be a whale, which meant it had to be an island.

My feet ached at just the thought of dry land.

Shifting my bearing by six degrees due west I set off again, making sure not to overtax my still recovering boilers. As I sailed I began to send out radar pings, trying to determine the exact position of the landmass and make sure I wasn't being followed. After thirty minutes of sailing I finally got a return hit, a large mass directly ahead that was almost certainly the island. I was tempted to pick up my pace, but a quick jab of pain from my midsection squashed that inclination immediately.

Another hour found me sailing around the cove of a small industrial harbor, only the light of the stars and the pings of my radar guiding me at this point. I glanced around at the scraps of trash and pieces of hull that were floating around the cove. The harbor was completely abandoned, with not a single sign of life or ship anywhere in the vicinity. Plenty of wrecks, though.

Cruising up to the edge of the pier I shakily attempted to climb out of the water. The structure groaned as it was forced to take my weight, and for a second I was afraid the rickety old thing would collapse. But after a few more seconds of protestation, the deck finally settled. With one last heave I hauled myself up.

I immediately began to sway, unconsciously trying to balance myself against waves that no longer existed. I set off down the pier at a wobbly pace, almost holding out my hands to balance myself.

I scanned the end of the pier, eyeing the port beyond. It seemed like a rather simple little harbor town, with small squat buildings and rickety wire-screen doors. As I stepped off the pier and onto the road however I noticed immediately that something was off.

What little cars were on the street appeared to be long abandoned, some even rusted over. The buildings nearest to the coastline had severe signs of damage, and there were more than a few vacant lots with a suspicious amount of debris and ash coating the ground.

The town must have been attacked before it had been abandoned, but by who or what I couldn't say. Most likely the same _things _that had attacked me.

As I passed by a storefront I froze, the sight of my own reflection gazing back at me making me pause. Walking up, I stared at myself in the starlight.

My eyes were a deep, eerie orange, lit by an almost supernatural glow from within. Leaning close to the glass actually reflected a bit of that light, casting it back onto my face and illuminating my pale skin with a faint orange glow.

My hair cascaded down my shoulders and stopped at my waist, its color a silvery white that reminded my of the moon hanging above me. My teeth were quite the sight. They were serrated and jagged, two rows of them lining both top and bottom of my mouth like that of a shark's. It only took a single exploratory poke to confirm that they were indeed as sharp as they looked!

Ow...

But what really caught my attention was a ring of small horns sprouting around my head like a thorny crown. Perched in the middle of this nest was a strange black fin, angled in just such a way so that it resembled a hat of some kind. I reached up and felt it with one hand, wincing at the coldness of the metal.

It was surprisingly well sloped, angled so that anything that hit the top of my head was likely to ricochet and bounce off. Of course, that wouldn't help if the enemy was firing high explosive, but armor was still armor and my head was a particularly valuable part of my body.

Looking past my reflection, something inside the shop caught my attention. I tested the door and was more than a little surprised when the rickety thing came off its hinges in my hands. Setting the wire-screen door aside I stepped in and pulled one of the newspapers on the counter over towards me.

The headlines practically screamed at me from the front page, and despite the language being Dutch I could read it perfectly.

ABYSSAL PRINCESS SIGHTED OFF THE COAST OF THE NETHERLANDS!  
FOREIGN AID IN JEOPARDY!

GERMANY TO SEND OUT U-BOAT WOLFPACKS!

SURFACE FLEET TO AID IN DEFENSE OF CONVOYS!

Something about that first headline caught my attention. Princess. That's what that... _thing_ had wanted me to call her. But Abyssals? What were those?

A flip of the page answered my question.

A slightly blurry photo of a pale-skinned girl covered in black metal armor, looking so eerily similar to my own reflection, dominated the page. Baleful red eyes stared right up at the camera, narrowed and threatening. She was standing in the wreckage of what looked like a cargo ship, the water around her burning as oil leaked from the hulk of the ruined vessel. Wrapped around her shoulders was a twisted monstrosity of black metal, guns, and snarling mouths, all of which were pointed right at the camera.

Oh. That's an Abyssal. I'm an Abyssal.

I shivered.

Well… that changes things.

Reading more, my heart sank further and further.

Mankind was at war with these Abyssals. Due to their near-human size and magical nature, modern military tactics and weapons were next to useless against them. Within the span of but a single year global sea trade had been brought to a complete halt. Nations who relied on this trade to survive had begun to starve to death. Iceland, China, large portions of Africa, and in fact almost the entirety of Southeast Asia was dead. Practically every island that wasn't in spitting distance of the mainland -like the one that I was standing on- had been demolished, ripped apart by the Abyssals. The only countries that seemed to be able to survive were ones with large amounts of land based resources, like the United States and Russia.

Then Japan created these… Kanmusu. "Ship-girls" as the rest of the world called them. Spirits of long dead warships raised from the depths to serve their country and fight off the Abyssals. The Japanese weren't the only nation to summon these ship-girls. Shortly after their initial success they were quickly followed by the Americans, Germans, Russians, and, most importantly, the English.

I stared down at a picture of the _HMS King George V _and the _HMS Richardson _smiling for the camera. Beneath the two girls were smaller images of their original ships from the second world war, the grainy black and white images still managing to portray the powerful ships' might and prowess.

I didn't know why, but something about the image of those ships made me incredibly uncomfortable.

I set the picture down for now and went back to the rest of the clippings.

After some initial heavy resistance, the ship-girls had managed to start pushing the Abyssals back, allowing for limited trade between nations to reopen. For some countries it was far too late, but others like Japan and the United Kingdom managed to survive.

In this region -I glanced over at the map on the wall- the North Sea, the convoys being shipped from mainland Europe to the United Kingdom were particularly important, and were primarily escorted by a joint coalition of English Royal Navy and the reinvigorated German Kriegsmarine, with occasional assistance from the smaller Russian fleet, who were only now beginning to put their first summoned battleships to the test.

With the recent appearance of an Abyssal Princess, that trade was being threatened once again.

Which was presumably why this town had been evacuated and later shelled.

I glanced out the window. Even by the light of the moon I could still make out the vicious storm clouds on the edge of the horizon, marking where the Abyssals lay in waiting. Storms followed at their heels, so the papers said, heralding calamity and death for all who beheld them.

I let out a sigh and flopped down into a chair.

All this information left me in quite the pickle. I was an Abyssal, part of a race of murderous super-beings intent on destroying any and all life on the high seas. I'd inadvertently managed to piss off one of my own species, and thinking back on her exact wording she was likely the one who had summoned me in the first place. I guess a little irritation might have been warranted, but for her to react like that….

I shook my head in disgust.

Still, now that I knew we were kin did that change anything? Did I go back out there, apologize and try to make amends?

I thought about the pressing coldness of the waves, how the lightning had flashed across the sky with her every word, and how the Princess's very presence made me feel isolated and cornered. My gut twisted rather violently at that last thought. Being isolated and cornered was something I was distinctly opposed to.

So, that would be a definite no.

Did I strike out and destroy them then? Play like I was one of those "ship-girls" and defend the humans?

I- I didn't know. The idea didn't hold any particular appeal with me either, and the thought of helping mankind left me feeling bitter for some reason. Particularly helping the English.

That thought led to dark places.

My body shook as a yawn almost broke my jaw.

I suppose I'd have mull the matter over after a quick rest. After all, it had been a highly stressful first day. No point stressing about these thoughts when I couldn't even think clearly.

After a quick glance out the window, another sweep of my radar, and a final knock on wood -don't know why I did it, it just seemed natural- I sat back in the chair and evened out my breathing, determined to give my internals a nice long break.

/-/

_KMS Admiral Hipper _stared out at the horizon as the stars twinkled down on the water. The sea was calm and steady, but reports from fleet command had been worrying. The Abyssal Princess rarely strayed from her main territory a few thousand kilometers to the East, but hunting packs of destroyers, cruisers, submarines and even the occasional battleship were known to sweep out and cause trouble.

One glance at the slow cargo tankers had her wincing. It would only take a single salvo from a high caliber gun to rip right through that armor and sink the ship.

A quick sweep of her radar showed her where all her comrades were, still holding up their assigned flanks. One battleship, the _KMS Gneisenau_, and her two escort destroyers took up the western flank. Hipper herself was guarding the northern flank, while her sister, the heavy cruiser _KMS Blucher, _minded the southern flank. Bringing up the rear of the convoy and guarded by the other two destroyer escorts was the Kriegsmarine's only carrier, the ever vigilant _KMS Graf Zeppelin._

Which just left the sub-

A splash from beside her had her jumping in place. She whirled around in time to see a small girl haul herself up out of the surf, her tight gray uniform dripping with water even as she shook her platinum blonde hair out.

"Hallo, Hipper!" the little girl beamed up at her.

A smile lifted the corners of Hipper's mouth as she laid eyes on the sparkling blue gaze of U-248, one of the six U-boats joining her on this escort mission. While it was traditionally unusual to use submarines as protection duty, the Kriegsmarine had an overabundance of the little boats, and they had proved to be excellent scouts. They hadn't completely replaced the destroyers, hence the four other little girls present in the convoy, but a nearly invisible ranging U-boat was an invaluable tool when it came to early detection of threats on a convoy like this one.

"Hallo 248," Hipper said with a wave.

A frown tugged at the corners of the submarine's mouth. "I'm not a number, Hipper." she murmured with a pout.

Hipper blushed. "Oh, sorry- I mean Ana. How are you holding up Ana?"

The little U-boat beamed at the use of her chosen name, happy to be rid of that constricting and rather demeaning numeric title. "I'm doing fine, but Emma was starting to get tired up front and wanted to know if we could switch rotations."

Hipper blinked. "Of course you can. You didn't need to come all the way back here just to ask me that. Next time just report in."

Ana was barely paying attention as she nodded. "Danke Hipper, I'll let her know!"

And with that the excitable submarine dove back into the water, leaving the heavy cruiser snorting in amusement. She raised a hand to her ear and tapped her communications tower.

_"You do remember we have radio, right Ana? This isn't like the old war, you don't need to maintain radio silence."_

The submarine's platinum clad head poked back up out of the water, her eyes wide and mouth flapping like a fish. A blush rapidly colored her face scarlet, and she shakily reached her hand up to her own ear.

_"J-Ja Hipper. Sorry!"_

And with that she disappeared in a splash of surf, diving beneath the surface of the waves in a fit of embarrassment. Hipper shook with barely contained laughter, her hands clutching the hem of her sharp gray uniform to keep from covering her mouth.

"You shouldn't tease them like that Hipper." A voice said from behind her.

She turned to eye her sister as the second heavy cruiser pulled up next to her. Blucher had always been the softest of the three Hipper-class sisters, with Prinz Eugen easily being the most rambunctious. Hipper liked to think that she fell somewhere in the middle, the truth was that she was hardly better than Prinz Eugen at times.

"And you could do with using the radio more often too, you know." Hipper said with smirk. "We have them for a reason you know."

Blucher didn't respond, instead playing with her braid nervously as she scanned the horizon for any signs of storm clouds. "Gneisenau just got off the line with command."

Hipper's eyes narrowed. "And?"

"There's been a lot of Abyssal activity in the past six hours. A big fleet, massive. Probably their whole force, and it looks like it's coming this way."

Hipper almost bit the inside of her mouth. "Scheisse!" she cursed quietly under her breath. "The Princess?"

Blucher nodded.

"I thought she was over near Denmark? Why's she here all of a sudden?"

"Something must have set her off. The storm around her's too heavy to get an accurate reading of her forces, but…."

Another curse hissed out of Hipper's mouth. The fact that the storm was so thick was indication in itself that the Abyssal force was truly massive. The Princess herself was on the move? That didn't make any sense!

She glanced over to the cargo ships they were sailing besides. "How fast do you think these things can change course?"

"If we change our bearing immediately, maybe…" Blucher wobbled her hand hesitantly.

Hipper sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. Even if they did avoid the Abyssals, changing course would put them days behind schedule, meaning more time required to restock and refuel. Not to mention the Brits needed the supplies desperately. They tried not to show it, but the years of defending their island nation from nearly perpetual Abyssal assault had taken its toll on the staunchly proud nation. They needed these supplies, and every day that passed without them was another day that their people suffered.

Germany had certainly chipped its tooth on the English people's "stiff-upper-lip" more times than once during the last war. Hipper respected them for it, and their navy even more so. The English ship-girls were some of the finest she'd ever had the honor of meeting, and that was after brushing up against the likes of the _USS Missouri _and _JSDF Yamato._

They needed those supplies to arrive on time, or as close to it as could be tolerated.

Still, if it was a choice between the shipment arriving late or not arriving at all….

"Order the course change."

Blucher nodded and raised a hand to her ear, hailing the cargo tankers with news. As she did, Hipper tapped on her own communications tower.

_"Attention all hands,"_ she called out, immediately feeling the attention of every ship in the escort fleet turn to face her. _"We are changing course."_

/-/

**Just a little something I whipped up with on Monday night. Been editing for a while, already have Chapter 2 ready to go and will be willing to post in the next few days if this story gets much interest. Chiao.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Ugh. The sheer number of typos in the last chapter is almost embarrassing. That's what I get for writing without editing properly though.**

/-/

I'd read in the paper clippings that Abyssals don't have to sleep or worry about supply lines. Instead, they relentlessly moved around the ocean at nearly top speeds, regardless of how long it had been since they last stopped.

As any Abyssal myself, I could attest to that not being entirely accurate. While it was true that I didn't need to "sleep" so to say, I did in fact require rest.

However, this "rest" was more akin to that of an ocean creature's, always moving and never fully coming to a stop, and always with at least some of my systems still active so I couldn't be taken fully by surprise. It wasn't quite at the level of some of the more extreme ocean predators like sharks, but it was a close thing.

As it was, my "rest" consisted of a lot of lazing around in a chair and idle ruffling of newspapers and magazines, barely reading anything but just sort of skimming along and picking up small tidbits of information. And despite the fact that I had had such a turbulent first day out on the high seas, it wasn't even sunrise before I was fully awake and back in control of my faculties.

At first, I had thought being on dry land would provide me with some comfort, but as the hours passed I began to feel more and more like a beached whale. My skin felt dry and cracked, and more than once I'd begun to sway as if to balance myself on waves that didn't exist. Regardless of how interesting the harbor town was, something was calling me back to the sea, urging me to get back into the water.

So it was with no small amount of relief that I stepped off the pier and back into the harbor, immediately welcoming the brisk splash of salty sea-spray on my legs. Bending down I scooped up an armful of seawater and dumped it over my head, a sigh of pure bliss escaping my lips as the water ran in rivulets down my body, taking with it the stress that had been building up for the past several hours.

As the sun began to rise I glanced to the edge of the horizon, eyes narrowed for any signs of storm clouds or smoke from ship-girl smokestacks.

Sure enough, the storm clouds I'd escaped from yesterday were still present, hovering menacingly over the ocean. At least the squall had traversed some, shifting -by my best estimates- a few hundred nautical miles to the south.

I frowned. At least they were a little farther away from me. I'd have preferred it if they were gone completely, but small mercies and what have you.

I sighed and began to chew on my bottom lip as I stared up at the squall line. At this stage I wasn't ready to encounter either side of the war, regardless of whether they were Abyssal or ship-girl. Neither had given me much reason to want to help them, what with my species basically declaring undying war upon mankind and one of my own Princess's trying to kill me.

Ah, yes. Therein lay my biggest problem. The Princess. The one who had summoned me, after quite a lot of effort if her words were to be taken seriously. She had been terrorizing this stretch of the North Sea for months now, making any kind of trade with England all but impossible. If I'd let her have her way with me, it's more than likely I would have been joining her in that pursuit.

I'll be honest, I wasn't sure how to feel about England suffering. There was just something about that place that left a bitter taste in my mouth, and the more I thought about it the worse it got. Half-remembered impressions of fire and fear passed through my head every time I even looked at a picture of one of their ships, and I shuddered to think of what would happen if I actually laid eyes on one of their ship-girls.

Most likely, nothing good.

I shook the thoughts from my head as I ran a hand through my hair, letting the salty spray of the ocean massage into my scalp. I winced as I poked myself in one of my horns, the small nub surprisingly sharp and spiny.

My issues with allegiance were a problem for another day. Now that I'd gotten my feet wet I was loath to go back on land, and there were plenty of ships in the harbor that were almost begging to be investigated. Maybe if I got lucky I could find a few more scraps of information lying about in one of their hulls, or even better, a hand radio. Sure, I had an onboard operating station, but finding a radio used by the locals would mean I could get my hands on the local frequencies. That way I'd be able to hear any chatter that might be coming near me.

I pushed off into the harbor, humming a tuneless sea shanty to myself as the sun finally crested the horizon of the harbor, warming my back up nicely.

I froze when I heard what sounded like the rolling of distant thunder. Turning my gaze to the horizon, my eyes widened as I caught sight of the storm clouds again. They were now being lit up from the inside, flashes of lightning and... something else sending bursts of white racing through the clouds.

Another series of booms rolled across the waves, so deep that my citadel vibrated from merely the candor of it. That wasn't thunder. The tenor and frequency of the booms was too regular, too powerful to be natural.

That was cannon fire.

Someone was fighting the Abyssals.

/-/

Hipper let out a scream as she let loose yet another volley from her eight twenty-three-centimeter main battery guns. The shells roared out of their barrels in an explosion of sound and light, becoming yet another layer to the already oppressive cacophony all around her.

The ocean had been transformed into a watery hellscape. The sky was dark with storm clouds, lit only by fire and lightning as the Abyssals poured out from practically every wave. Towering swells were constantly lifting her up and down, spoiling her firing solutions and making it difficult to maintain her position on the northern flank. The rough terrain had practically destroyed any hope of keeping the Abyssals at range, forcing the escort fleet to begin to engage in close quarters.

Hipper grunted as secondary fire pinged off her armor, her own secondaries opening up on the careless Abyssal that had dared stray within her range. Forget close-quarters, this was practically _brawling _conditions.

The convoy was being ripped apart behind her, despite her best efforts to keep the cargo tankers defended. She could hear the Blucher's guns rolling out from the other flank, the two of them doing their best to keep the last few remaining ships alive.

The U-boats were doing what they could to engage the Abyssal ships , but the sheer press of firepower and disgusting amount of turbulence made it almost impossible for the little subs to get a proper target. She could hear the high-pitched pings of their sonar as they constantly scanned the waves, trying to tell if she was a friendly or not. Thankfully they'd refrained from firing upon her so far.

She shuddered. The last thing they needed was to add friendly fire into this mess.

The screams of Abyssal fighters echoed from overhead as they engaged with German aircraft. The _KMS Graf Zeppelin_, the sole aircraft carrier of the Kriegsmarine, was working her hardest to keep the flying monstrosities from overwhelming them. Hipper knew for a fact that Zeppelin was an excellent ship. Her fighters were all top notch, her crew was well trained, and her resolve remained uncontested. But no matter her quality, Zeppelin was still only one ship.

And judging by the sheer number of Abyssal ships in the air, the Princess had brought a lot more than just one carrier to this fight.

Hipper's anti-aircraft guns were blazing away on practically every side, her fairy gunners doing their best to keep the vicious little bombers off her while she focused more on the surface ships. At the sound of her sirens wailing in warning she glanced up, her blue eyes widening in horror as she saw a wave of dive bombers manage to break through her AA and begin to bear down on her.

She closed her eyes and shielded her face as the abominations opened their maws in preparation to let loose their payloads, but the pain never came. Instead, the monstrous aircraft were ripped apart as a veritable hail of flak shells bracketed their ranks. What few little of the twisted planes that managed to survive veered wildly off course, only one of them managing to drop its bomb. Hipper shivered as it exploded in the water only a few meters from where she stood, throwing sea foam high into the air and showering her in spray.

"Verdammte aircraft! I hate them!" a loud voice boomed from her starboard side. Hipper turned her head just in time for a crack of lightning to illuminate the battered form of _KMS Gneisenau_, the battleship staring up at the sky angrily while her own considerable AA lit up the clouds with fire. From the light of the fire Hipper could see the larger ship had taken quite a beating. There were more than a few impact craters in her belt armor and superstructure, and her radio tower had been sheered clean off . But the fury on Gneisenau's face as she stared up at the Abyssal aircraft managed to placate some of Hipper's worst fears. The battleship hadn't lost her resolve just yet.

Gneisenau let out a roar as her AA bracketed yet another squadron of dive bombers. "Evil, disgusting little things! Always coming at you whenever you're not expecting them! Oi, Hipper! You alright?"

Hipper nodded shakily as the bigger ship pulled up abreast of her, the battleship adding her AA firepower to Hipper's own.

Hipper's main batteries roared as she lobbed another volley at a reeling Abyssal cruiser. The twisted and blackened ship let out a hideous scream of pain as four of Hipper's eight shells ripped through her armor and exploded in her citadel. Red eyes stared hatefully at the heavy cruiser as the Abyssal toppled backwards, disappearing beneath the waves.

"I thought you were covering our western flank?!" Hipper called out over her shoulder as the battleship moved to cover her back.

"The western flank's collapsed!" came the battleship's response. Hipper could hear the tension in the bigger ship's voice even over the roar of both their secondaries, and a quick glance confirmed her suspicions. Gneisenau's face was wet with more than just surf and rain, and her eyes were ringed with red even as she poured more fire into an Abyssal sloop that dared crest the ridge before her.

"Galster and Lody are gone!" the battleship answered Hipper's unspoken question.

Hipper felt her heart twist. Those two destroyers had been so happy to once again be part of an escort group, just like they had back during Operation Juno. Galster in particular. The little destroyer was finally getting to be the lead escort for a battleship again.

To hear that they were gone….

She pushed it out of her mind as her guns clicked back into place, finishing their reload cycle. Two targets appeared before her, an Abyssal Re-class battleship showing broadside and an accompanying destroyer. Her cannons roared as six of her shots sped towards the Re-class , saving the last two for the vicious looking destroyer that was even now trying to turn and get its torpedoes into the water.

Three hits and two shatters on the Abyssal battleship. Fire swept across the hideous creature as the high explosive rounds did their job, tearing a scream out of the mutilated once-ship's throat. Hipper grimaced. A shame she hadn't fired armor piercing, that broadside was showing a lot of citadel.

One shot missed the destroyer by a country mile. The other slammed right into its ugly little mouth, sending fire racing through and erupting out of every orifice of its twisted little body. The heavy cruiser watched in satisfaction as the abomination sank beneath the waves.

A sudden shock swept through her system as a shell ripped through her armor, passing through the flesh of her shoulder and out the other side. Fortunately the adrenaline pumping through her veins numbed the pain, but her eyes were still wide as she gripped her bleeding shoulder. The battleship she'd taken her eyes off of smiled in satisfaction, even as a burst of fire from the Gneisenau's main batteries finished her off.

"Hipper! You alright?" the battleship hissed as she pulled up beside her.

Hipper felt herself nod, her damage control crew already pouring out onto her deck to start patching up the hole. "O- Overpenetration," she stammered out. It had missed her citadel and done minimal damage, but now she was starting to feel the pain. She bit the inside of her cheek, forcing herself past it and refocusing on the fight in front of her. She was about to sweep around with her rangefinders to find more targets when a hand on her good shoulder stopped her.

"Hipper, stop. This is too much. We need to withdraw or we're not going to survive."

Hipper turned and shot the battleship a shocked look. Retreat? Now? "B-But the convoy!"

An explosion lit up the world behind her, fire bellowing into the sky as the cargo tanker's fuel cell exploded. Hipper glanced back in horror as fire raced across the surface of the water, tracing from where the oil was spilling out from the tears in the tanker's hull. With the sound of groaning metal and screaming sailors the ship was ripped in two, pulled apart by the inertia of the waves and the heat of the fire.

Abyssal aircraft danced around gleefully above the sinking vessel, having finally completed their bombing run on the slow and unarmored ship.

Hipper could only stare in dumbfounded confusion.

"That was the last of the convoy!" Gneisenau yelled into her ear.

Hipper turned back to face the battleship, her eyes blinking owlishly in the firelight.

"It- It wasn't supposed to be like this…" she mumbled.

Gneisenau bit her lip, emotions twisting her face in a hundred different ways. Her hands were balled into fists, and the battleship was about to say something else when the screams of yet more aircraft cut her off short.

"Scheisse!" Gneisenau cried as she moved away from the Hipper, trying to draw some of the aircraft's fire off of the heavy cruiser. "Hipper, AA now- HIPPER! 6 O'CLOCK!"

Hipper turned to see a full two squadrons of bombers diving towards her, mouths already open and bombs on the way. Her mouth fell open in shock. The bombs seemed to be falling in slow motion, and almost in reflex she raised her arms to cover her face. It didn't matter, the firebombs hit her dead on regardless, exploding with the wrath of a full two squadrons of demon planes.

For a brief second she couldn't feel the flames, the shock-wave from the explosions knocking her back a step even as the oil-and-keratin compound washed over her body. Then the pain hit her, and it was as if she'd been doused with molten iron.

Indescribable. The pain was indescribable. Agony coursed through her body as her decks were set alight, her paint turning black and warping while her fairies battened down the hatches and tried to whether it. Her screams pierced the night as she fell to her knees, the water around her roiling as the bombs that missed her detonated just beneath the surface.

Within seconds her radar was knocked out, followed closely by her rangefinders and even her radio. She couldn't even hear herself screaming as she rolled along the waves, trying desperately to put the fire out. When that failed she staggered to her feet, struggling to even stay upright as a swell lifted her high into the air and spun her around. With her navigation systems destroyed she was sailing totally blind, her hands reaching out in a vain attempt to feel her way through battlefield.

Swaying, she set off at flank speed in the direction she'd last thought the Gneisenau was sailing in. Fortunately, apart from knocking out a large number of her systems her internals themselves weren't damaged, though one of the bombs had managed to rip straight through her armor and detonate in a bulkhead compartment. She was taking on water, but not a rate she couldn't control.

Her boilers pumped as she put on speed, desperately steaming away from the fire and heat.

/-/

"Hipper! Hipper, come back!"

Gneisenau was practically screaming in desperation, but at this distance she could see that it was pointless. The heavy cruiser's bridge was practically non-existent, the only systems still operational being her basic navigation and her damage control. She watched helplessly as her friend sailed off in the exact opposite direction they were supposed to go, heedless of any and all warnings called her way.

A ping on her radar had the Gneisenau's head snapping to the side.

Coming over the top of a swell and steaming directly towards her was the twisted form of an Abyssal battleship, her gold finish and pronounced gun batteries marking her as an elite. Sickly yellow eyes stared out from a hauntingly beautiful face as the Abyssal smiled down on her. On the face of a normal girl that smile would have made the Gneisenau blush. As it was, the effect was ruined by the rows of serrated fangs the Abyssal had instead of teeth.

She was about to disengage when a thought occurred to her. From where she stood, Hipper was just inside of her radar, as was the Abyssal. That likely meant that Hipper wasn't showing up on the _Abyssal's _radar.

Which meant that if she disengaged now, and the Abyssal didn't follow, Hipper would be next.

"Heh."

She straightened the brim of her naval hat and met the Abyssal's smile with a cocky grin she didn't feel she could back up. Her guns clicked satisfactorily as they finished their reloading cycle, nine armor-piercing rounds ready to be fired at a moment's notice.

The Abyssal levied her guns at her, the gnarled black barrels glimmering dangerously in the firelight.

"Are you ready to return to beneath the waves, German?"

Gneisenau repressed her wince as the Abyssal's words washed over her. She'd forgotten that the stronger ones could actually talk.

With bravado she didn't have, she smiled and raised her own guns to point directly at the Abyssal's citadel.

_"Try me, Schweinhund."_

/-/

**I'll be honest, I'd been looking for somewhere to slot in "Schweinhund" ever since I decided to make the main fleet German.**

**This chapter was supposed to end after Hipper got struck by the dive bombers, but it kept feeling like it needed more. This is actually the third rendition of the end scene. The first was too dark, the second too long, and I feel like this one could use a little more work too but I have to move on. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Alright, so after reviewing my second chapter I've made a few adjustments to the way I picture naval battles in my head. No more will WOW clog up this glorious story with inaccuracy and misinformation. I will not be led astray again!**

**Instead, I will rely solely on the best naval-information source of all time: High School Fleet. Yes, yes, hold your applause.**

**/-/**

Her breath came in waves, dragged out of her in long slow rasps.

The Abyssal was on her hands and knees, gasping for breath as she clutched her stomach tightly. Black ichor dripped through her fingers despite her best efforts, evidence of her armor's failure to stop a salvo.

Damn it! That stupid German was just some flag-waving drone, sent out to fight and die for the cattle that crawled around the land.

She should have known better than to try to fight an Abyssal Elite!

She winced as the gashes in her hull groaned painfully with the rocking of the waves. That German pig had given as good as she'd got, but the Abyssal had made sure she was punished for it.

A shame the ship-girl had gotten away before she could finish her off, she would have much enjoyed seeing the arrogant brat sink beneath the waves.

Around her, the Abyssals of the fleet circled like sharks. They could smell her blood in the water, staining the surface of the water with oil. She bared her teeth at them, warning the more adventurous ones away.

Golden eyes narrowed as a thought occurred to her. Perhaps she could consume one of them to hasten her recovery process?

Her mouth began to water as she eyed one of the small gunboats hovering just outside of her range. The little ship's black and white flesh would be a perfect delicacy right now, just the right amount of metal and magic to fix her right up. Her tongue snaked across her lips, and she was just about to make her move when a fell wind began to blow across the waves.

The swells stopped in their swaying, the water quieting and becoming placid once again. The battleship shivered, and around her the Abyssals all began to bray as they felt something begin to rise from the depths. Her breath quickened as the sea blackened, the already dark water deepening its hue further and further until it was as black as the Abyss far below.

Bubbles began to rise to the surface, popping all around her as something deep below moved about.

Her blood was pumping, both in fear and excitement. Her Princess was here! "M-My lady, the attack has been completed! The foolish ship-girls have been broken apart and-"

"That was never our goal, fool."

Her voice dragged across her mind like the scales of a fish, rattling and clanking with a hideous candor.

The Elite shook her head. "O-Oh. But, my lady, they were in the way, and you ordered us to destroy any who sailed before us!"

The Abyssal flinched as her Princess thrashed about in anger, the sea beginning to froth as the bubbles increased, bringing with it the smell of blood and sulfur.

"That was before my beautiful flagship abandoned me! Such an ungrateful brat! And after I spent so much time and effort summoning her!"

The Abyssal shook as she stared down into the dark waters beneath her feet. If she looked closely, she thought she could make out a row of lights moving below the waves, circling around and around her like the tentacles of a massive beast. "My lady, she's just one ship. I'm sure that with the power of our fleet and the full strength of a Princess we could-"

"One ship? _One ship?"_

The Abyssal's blood ran cold. She had never heard such anger in her Princess's voice, and certainly never directed at _her _no less.

"She is _everything! _I cannot stand to lose her, or worse, have her become a rival! No, I _will _have her! I summoned her, she _belongs _to me!"

"My Princess, please calm-"

"And _you! _You led our fleets into pointless battle while I was recovering! You wasted my ships when you should instead have been hunting down my Flagship!"

"But Princess, please-"

"You will pay! You will sink!"

The waves began to thrash as the thing from below began to hurtle towards her. The Abyssal's breath came in pants as she racked her brain for a way to appease her Princess, desperate to save her own life. _"_My Princess, we did manage to sink a supply convoy! And two of the German surface vessels!"

The Princess stopped. The battleship could feel her just below the water, held at bay only temporarily. She spoke fast, desperately trying to appeal to her bloodthirsty leader. "Please, my Princess, forgive me! I could not ignore the Germans when they were right in front of us! If we had ignored them, the English would have been resupplied. And we killed them! Two of their destroyers, and all of their cargo vessels. Can't you taste them? Does their blood not please you?"

The Elite trembled as she felt the Princess begin to circle again, almost as if she were brooding.

"It does please me. But I can taste the blood of another. A cruiser? And one more… A battleship? What of those two?"

The battleship looked to the side at one of the carriers. The lesser Abyssal's green eyes widened and she violently shook her head, backing away from the volatile Princess. "We did not sink the cruiser, but we did manage to damage her. As for the battleship, I engaged her in personal combat myself!" The Abyssal smiled in pride.

"And? Did you sink her?"

Her smile fell. "N-No. She escaped before I could finish her off."

The sea began to grow icy again. The Princess once again began to circle, faster than before.

"I see."

The sea frothed beneath the Abyssal's feet as the Princess rose up, about to break the surface.

"You know, my dear, I am still not fully recovered. Summoning my precious Flagship took quite a bit of my energy, and this chase is tiring me even further. You are one of my Elites, are you not?"

The Abyssal nodded her head frantically. "Yes, my Princess."

"Then there is but one way you can fulfill your duty to me now. Satisfy my hunger."

Golden eyes widened. "My Princess, I beg you-"

Her words were cut off as the sea erupted around her, spray and foam splashing everywhere as the Princess's maw closed around. Serrated teeth the size of anchors closed around her midsection, punching through armor as if it wasn't there. Her screams for mercy went unheard as the Princess thrashed her about, beating the waves with her body like it was a wet rag. When finally no more sound came from the gold-encrusted husk of the once-ship, the Princess retreated beneath the waves to finish her meal in peace.

The rest of the fleet shifted anxiously as the sound of grinding metal filled the sea, the reverberations of the Princess's feast bouncing off their hulls.

When it was finally over the sea once again settled, the waves bobbing happily as the Princess veritably purred in delight. A massive head breached the surface of the water, a single purple eye swiveling about to stare at the assembled flotilla before finally settling on one of the two remaining Elite battleships.

"You."

Every Abyssal, without exception, shivered from bow to stern as the Princess's actual words rang out through the air. It was a haunting sound, like the echoes of a groaning mountain reverberating off the sides of an undersea trench. The Abyssal Elite that had been singled out gulped, more than a few drops of sweat leaking down her clammy skin. Nevertheless she approached her princess, shivering under the scrutiny. "Y-Yes, my lady?" she asked.

The Princess rolled about on the surface, exposing more of her body to the fresh air. Spines rippled along powerful black armor, the occasional flash of pale skin the only indication that the creature wasn't completely made of armor.

"There's no point in not finishing the job now that it has begun. I can sense their main force fleeing back east. Take a detachment of ships and hunt them down."

The battleship shivered as part of the Princess's body rolled back, revealing a much smaller pair of deep purple eyes still partially hidden by a mop of silver hair.

"Sink them. Every one of them. Or sink yourself."

The Abyssal shivered but managed to keep control of herself. She shakily nodded and stepped back, casting her gaze across the flotilla and began motioning for different ships to join her. The Princess turned to the last Elite, her purple eyes sparkling with faerie fire as she regarded the gold-encrusted ship.

"The wounded cruiser is farther north. I expect her to be dealt with."

The battleship bowed her head, but kept her eyes fixed on her Princess. "And what of you, my lady?"

"That is not your concern!"

The Elite took a step back and kept her head bowed respectfully, but didn't lower her eyes. She was either braver than her two sisters, braver by half, or maybe just foolish. The Princess sighed and acquiesced.

"I will work to reconstitute my force. There is a small copse of islands to the west of here. Return there when you are finished, and not before."

The Abyssal bowed further and turned away, her mouth already moving to gather her own force. The Princess huffed and spun about, diving beneath the waves and making time towards the nice juicy island they'd passed on the way.

The clouds began to disperse, the fleet separating as they went their separate waves. Far above them, in the cold blackness of space, satellites monitored their movements, reporting their progress to the admiralty of the Kriegsmarine, who even now were locked in fervent debate on how best to handle the situation.

/-/

Gneisenau's body shook as her chest was racked by another coughing fit.

The remains of the escort fleet were arranged in formation around her, providing protective cover from every conceivable angle while the submarines scouted the perimeter from several dozen kilometers out. Blucher was doing her best to support the battleship, one of Gneisenau's arms wrapped around her shoulder while Blucher's other arm supported her lower back. But despite her best efforts, the heavy cruiser was struggling under the heavier ship's weight.

It didn't help that Gneisenau wasn't exactly making her job easy.

The battleship chuckled feverishly between labored gasps for breath. "I got her," she mumbled giddily. "I still can't believe I actually got her!"

True, Gneisenau had managed to inflict heavy damage to the Abyssal Elite that had engaged her near the end of the fight. But in return, the Abyssal had done quite the number on Gneisenau. Scores of pockmarks and twisted indents marked her body where the shells from the deadly 16-inch guns had found their mark. Ash and soot covered her superstructure where fires had started and then been put out, forming a patchwork of dark and light all over her body.

Blucher patted her back gently, trying to soothe the jumpy battleship. "Ja, ja, you did great Gneisenau." She narrowed her eyes as her friend began to laugh deliriously. "Stop shaking, you're making it worse!"

"Worse?"

Gneisenau turned her head, and Blucher winced as she saw the bloody mess that was the left side of the battleship's face. She'd been luck to only take a single shell to the face, but it had still almost been enough to take her head clean off.

"What are you talking about, Blucher? I feel great!" She tilted her head back, her sailor's cap stubbornly sticking to her head even as she cried out at the top of her lungs. "You hear that, _arschlochs? _You haven't sunk this ship yet!"

Blucher yanked her back, face twisted in concern. "They will have if you keep that up! Every time you jerk around like that you tear something up inside you. Seriously, what's the matter with you?" She bit her lip as she eyed Gneisenau's wounds. "You're lucky to even be alive, you know? You should have been dead thrice over."

Gneisenau shook her head. "Nein. They'd have to do a lot more than that to sink me. I'm invincible!"

Blucher frowned as she stared into her friend's single working eye. The pupil was dilated to an incredible extent, almost completely overtaking her electric-blue irises. Tentatively, Blucher reached up with her other hand and placed it on Gneisenau's forehead, almost immediately hissing at the heat she found there.

"Gneisenau! You're burning up!"

The battleship shook her head. "Nein, nein. My boilers are just running a little hot. Just need a bit of a drink and I'll be fine. Maybe an ale, or some of that scotch the English brought over the last time they were here. Hey, Blucher, do you think the Admiral Raeder will let me have a crack at his stash of schwarzbier when we get back to base?"

Blucher frowned and raised a hand to her ear, eyes moving to the carrier leading the fleet.

"_Graf Zeppelin? Do you copy?_"

The carrier turned to glance behind her, her marksman's eyes zeroing in on Blucher from well over several kilometers away. _"__Ja, I copy. What is it Blucher?"_

_"Gneisenau is running a high fever. I think one of those shots might have damaged her coolant system. I-I can't tell how bad it is though. My damage control is working with hers to patch up some of the bigger holes, so it might be some time before we can figure out the real problem. She's starting to become delirious, though."_

She could hear the carrier's teeth grinding in frustration. _"__Understood. I will report this to Admiral Raeder. I'll be moving into long-range radio contact distance momentarily. Keep me posted on any further developments."_

Despite the distance between the two of them and the fact that Graf Zeppelin didn't technically outrank her, Blucher still felt herself wanting to salute. The carrier just had that natural authority in her voice that made her want to comply with everything she said. _"__Ja, understood."_

The radio cut out as Graf Zeppelin severed their connection, already beginning the process of patching into long-range communications.

Gneisenau shifted in Blucher's arms, sending the heavy cruiser a lopsided grin. "It's funny, you know?"

Blucher blinked questioningly, prompting a wider smile from the battleship. "Even after all these years of being gone, we still get saddled with another Admiral Raeder the second we come back. To think the old bastard would have a grandkid." Her body shook with the force of her chuckles, prompting another violent coughing fit.

Blucher held her close, her face a stony mask as she tried to hold herself together. She smiled for Gneisenau's sake, the expression not quite reaching her eyes. "It is a bit funny, ja. I guess some might call it fate."

Gneisenau spat into the waves. "Forget fate. It's never done anything good for us."

Blucher could only stare ahead, her eyes locked on the horizon and the undulation of the sea. Gneisenau pressed closer to her, leaning her head on the smaller ship's shoulder. "She's going to be alright, you know."

Blucher couldn't bring herself to make eye contact. "Will she?"

"She will. Hipper's a strong girl, she'll pull through this. Just you wait and see."

A wave of emotion swept through Blucher. Regret, sorrow, guilt were chief among them, but, most importantly of all, so was hope.

That was the one thing that kept her going, kept her sailing on a straight course.

She'd never been able to put much faith in the old High-Command of the Kriegsmarine. The Nazi party was too callous, too demanding of the surface fleet and uncomprehending of the intricacies of nautical warfare and tactics. It had seen their battleships wrecked, her sisters driven to desperation, and their submarines worked to the bone.

Graf Zeppelin was a perfect example of this, the regal aircraft carrier never actually reaching completion under their command. Instead, she'd languished on the sidelines until the end of the war, despite how much good she would have done out on the seas. And because of that error the English had been free to run rampant in the Atlantic, ensuring that any meaningful surface voyages could not be taken due to the air superiority they held out on the Ocean proper.

But the Kriegsmarine she now sailed under was not the same as the old one. The Admiral Raeder she now knew was one that identified with them, understood them on an intrinsic level, and one who placed value on the ships themselves, not just on how many enemies they could sink. It was a system she could have faith in, a system that valued and cared for her not just as a piece of military hardware but as a person as well.

So she would trust them to make a plan. She would trust them to save her sister. And she would trust in her sister's strength to stay alive until then, and in her own to do the same.

She smiled at Gneisenau, this time for real. The battleship mirrored her expression, her teeth glimmering in the light as she smiled though her mania-clouded haze. "We'll see her again, Blucher. Don't you worry."

Blucher nodded in agreement. "Ja."

"_Blucher._"

Her hand flew to her ear, immediately picking up the radio line. "_Ja, Zeppelin?_"

_"__We've been ordered to shift our tack by three degrees to the north. Command wants us to set up an ambush."_

Blucher blinked in surprise, before physically recoiling. _"__What!?"_

Graf Zeppelin was quick to silence any objections she could make. _"__Based on our current speed, the pursuing Abyssal fleet will overtake us regardless of our course. If we're going to be attacked anyway, we might as well do it from a point of our choosing. There's a copse of islands sixty nautical miles northwest of here that would make perfect cover."_

Blucher's face screwed up in consternation. _"__But what about Gneisenau?"_

_"They thought about that too. According to Admiral Raeder, since she's not actually a ship, she could probably get up on land and fire down on the Abyssals as soon as they get in range. Her guns are fifteen inches, not that much different from land based artillery."_

Blucher blinked. She hadn't actually thought about it that way, but it did make a weird sort of sense.

She glanced between Graf Zeppelin's back and Gneisenau, about to say something further when the battleship in her arms beat her to it. Her radio tower crackled to life as she butted into the call, apparently having jury-rigged it into working order at some point when Blucher wasn't paying attention. _"__Ja doch! Let's sink some more ships!"_

The carrier sighed from across the line. _"__Glad to know that you're so enthusiastic about it, Gneisenau."_

Blucher rolled her eyes as the battleship practically vibrated in her arms._ "__This was Admiral Raeder's idea, ja?" _She continued._ "__I'm going to kiss that man the second we're back at base!"_

The heavy cruiser could practically hear Graf Zeppelin shaking her head in exasperation. _"__I'm sure he'll appreciate that."_

/-/

**Before you point out that the Gneisenau only had 11 inch guns, yes, I am aware. However, she was planned to have a refit that would have changed out her nine 11 inch guns for the better 15 inch guns later found on the Bismarck and Tirpitz. She would only have six of them mounted on twin-turrets, however. That is what has happened here.**

**Also, I'm not entirely happy with how the Abyssal-speech turned out. Initially I was going to have both of them speaking with that weird font, but the text just looked to jarring so I changed it out for only the Princess speaking like that. Even then it doesn't look too great, so let me know if you want me to change it.**

**This was obnoxiously difficult to write, mostly because there were three or four scenes that I ended up cutting out and putting in other chapters, including an Admiral Hipper scene. Anyway, let me know what you think. Chiao**

/-/

**To my readers on FanFiction - I am copy pasting this story from where I wrote it on a different site, which is why you may see me talking about things that you haven't mentioned or thought of. That also explains the rapid pace at which this story comes out. As of me posting this chapter, I am still locked in the throes of Writer's Block, and struggling to finish Chapter 10. I will continue to post these chapters once daily until I catch up with the main story, after which this shall be updated at the same time as the other 2 sites. **

**Thanks for reading! Leave a review if you liked it, I like hearing your feedback. **


	4. Chapter 4

I shifted from foot to foot as the storm clouds finally dissipated from the horizon. It had been hours since the battle had ended, hours that I had spent looting every ship in the harbor and decidedly _not _paying attention to the life and death struggle taking place out there on the waves.

On the upside, I had found several hand radios -all of which were broken- and a pair of rugged black binoculars, which now hung proudly around my neck like a trophy.

I glanced back to the horizon. It looked like the Princess had either finally expended her fury or had kicked the bucket, though I highly doubted that. I could see columns of smoke stretching high into the sky, evidence of burning fuel left at the surface of the water. I don't exactly know what my blood was made of, but I'm pretty sure not even a Princess had enough oil in her to produce that level of smoke.

I sighed and shook my head, glancing back over the harbor. I felt like a coward. I'd sat here and done nothing while the two sides had fought and killed each other. My serrated teeth worried my lower lip. _'__It wasn't my business,' _I kept telling myself. _'__I'm not aligned with either side, I didn't need to get involved.'_

Unfortunately, logic like that didn't manage to satisfy either my guilt or my curiosity.

What had they been fighting over? Who won? Was that the Princess burning? Was there any salvage I could use? Where was the Princess now? Were there any survivors? Was the Princess coming this way?

Questions like that kept turning around and around in my brain, and with a sigh I shook my head. There was only one way to get those kinds of answers - go out and see for myself.

Not a minute later I was sailing out of the harbor, steaming away at cruising speed and heading straight for the smoke.

_'This is a bad idea,' _I thought to myself, and deep within my bridge I could feel a few of my officers nodding their little heads. Unfortunately, my concern was overruled by my information officer, who was insisting that investigation of a battlefield was vital for the analysis of enemy tactics.

I couldn't help but agree with him on that front.

It took only a few hours of steaming to reach the edge of the debris field. The currents had done a good job of spreading the debris far and wide, so it was likely that this wasn't even where the battle had actually happened. Wood and scrap-metal bobbed around on the surface, some of it still smoldering. Oil was everywhere, resting atop the water in a rainbow-like sheen. It made it hard to see anything as the sun reflected off the slick, nearly blinding me every time I looked down.

It wasn't long until I found my first real clue as to the nature of the attack. A crate was bobbing along in the water, its watertight seal still unbroken despite the battering it must have taken in the attack. Grabbing ahold of it I lifted it out of the water, turning the large crate around in my hands to inspect it.

Marked on the side in stark black letters were the words "Verderblicher Waren."

"Perishable Goods." I mumbled to myself, automatically translating the language. So, this had been a German convoy. No doubt it had been headed towards England when they'd been ambushed by the Princess.

I dropped the crate back in the water. I didn't need the food; just being on the sea provided me with all the nourishment I needed. But casting my gaze around revealed several more crates of varying sizes, leading me to wonder just how big the convoy had been.

Thinking about it, that was actually pretty important information. The size of the convoy was likely to determine the humans' response. If it was only a small convoy, then they might be tempted to try again, only with a larger defense force and on a different route. But if it had been a larger convoy, then they might just postpone any and all supply-runs and decide to send in a hunter-killer fleet, which would be particularly bad news for me.

Wait, what was I saying? A Princess sank this convoy. _Of course_ they'd be sending an attack fleet.

I guess I'd have to hurry up with my looting- I mean, "investigating."

Perusing around the debris field revealed vast quantities of supplies, not just of food, but also electrical equipment, fresh water, lumber, paper, and a whole plethora of other substances, all crucial to the survival of a struggling nation. And judging from the wide array of different materials, this had definitely been a major convoy.

I jumped in surprise as a dorsal fin sliced through the water off my starboard bow. A shark swam through the water, undoubtedly drawn to the scent of unfamiliar objects in the water. It had the good sense not to approach me, but otherwise paid me no mind as it cut through the waters on a hunt for its prey.

I frowned. Now that I thought about it, unless the convoy managed to save a few of their ships from sinking it was unlikely any of the sailors on board had been rescued. I didn't know the specifics of ship-girl anatomy, but I was pretty sure there was no way that _I _could take on any passengers. Hopefully they'd managed to get onto the lifeboats before the sea had claimed them.

A piece of debris floated past me, looking suspiciously like the broken hull of a life raft.

I sighed and shook my head. Even if any of the crew _had _managed to escape on lifeboats, they would have still had to contend with both a Princess-induced storm and a whole armada of Abyssals. And neither of those would have been too kind to a bunch of defenseless sailors. I could hardly imagine a worse way to go.

_'Save sinking'_ a part of me thought. I shuddered and shook my head.

My ears twitched as my radar pinged a warning. My head snapped to the south, where something was approaching me at a sharp clip.

It was… weird. It was registering as both big and small at the same time, and was moving at a breakneck pace.

Big and small at the same time? What the hell could that-

My blood ran cold, and I swept my eyes to the sky. No clouds. At least, not yet. But that only meant the Princess wasn't close, not that there were no other Abyssals.

Which left me with two options: Abyssal or ship-girl, neither of which were good news.

My radar swept around again, marking the target once more. It hadn't changed course or reduced speed, which meant that it either hadn't detected me yet or just didn't care. And I highly doubted there was anything in the sea that _wouldn't_ care about an Abyssal standing directly in their path.

Which made it all the stranger when another sweep of my radar showed it approaching twenty-kilometers from me, still without having either slowed or changed course in any way. Weird. Did it not have radar at all? Or had it seen me and… wanted to talk?

I put a hand to my ear, activating my radio tower and tapping out a brief greeting. No response.

I frowned and tried again. Again, no response.

I shifted nervously. I was now at an impasse, because if it came down to it I'm not sure I'd be able to put up much of a fight. Weird as it was to say, I had literally been born yesterday. Or, well, summoned, but it was practically the same thing. I didn't have the same level of experience the ship-girls probably had, nor the killer instincts I suspected a fully fledged Abyssal would. Plus, a quick glance over my shoulder displayed my biggest weakness- I didn't have my rigging.

I'd seen pictures in the papers of ship-girls standing proudly with their cannonade displayed in full military salute, their towers and bridges bristling along their shoulders and backs. I'd also seen pictures of the Abyssal equivalent, snarling monstrosities of black metal, guns, and teeth that twisted around them and snarled at the camera with eyes and mouths of their own, almost as if they were alive.

I had neither of those on me, just my natural armored dress and a determination not to die.

I'd read how the ship-girls could summon their rigging with the help of a harbor crew, but I had no idea what the Abyssal equivalent of that would be. I assumed it was something instinctual, like how I knew it was natural for me to stand on water or how I could easily maneuver my rudder without having been taught how. Come to think of it, I really hoped it was instinctual. If I had to have a Princess suit me up then I was screwed_._

The point was, without my rigging I was basically just a particularly durable target standing on open water, practically a sitting duck. And I had no idea how to summon it, as I had had neither the time nor a reason to try.

That was a decision I was beginning to regret as the vessel closed to eighteen kilometers.

I really should have been able to spot it by now. It was clear skies and calm seas -for the North Sea- and I felt like the distance was close enough. Still, I was very close to the surface of the water, not high up like I would be if I was an actual ship.

I jolted as a fairy barked something in my ear, and I glanced down to see my scavenged binoculars resting against my chest.

Oh, right. It really did pay to have the instincts of a scavenger.

Putting the binoculars to my eyes I scanned the horizon, looking for any signs of movement. Thanks to my shitty radar and embarrassingly inaccurate A-scope display I had only a vague idea of where the ship was coming from, with no _precise _bearing or heading. I could feel my crew arguing back and forth within my bridge, trying to determine those very statistics. After a minute of bickering they gave up, realizing that any readings they were liable to get would be so inaccurate they'd be better off just making an educated guess.

I shook my head. _'__Note to self, get better radar.'_

I frowned as a thought occurred to me. I vaguely recalled having access to float planes when I was still a ship, which could probably spot a target like that at long range. Did I still have any of those?

My fairies were quick to inform me that no, I did not. Stuff like that came with my rigging.

Damn, worth a shot.

It was with no small amount of relief that I finally caught sight of my company as it closed to within fifteen kilometers. The sun made it hard to see anything that small, but I could just make out the silhouette of a single girl, swaying back and forth as she cut through the waves. Thankfully, it was only one ship, and from what I could see it had a distinct lack of teeth and black armor.

Not an Abyssal then. So, I was dealing with a ship-girl.

That was still obviously problematic, for equally obvious reasons.

I glanced down at my shoulders, wondering if my rigging had miraculously appeared while I wasn't paying attention. Nope. Just bare white shoulders and sparkly black armor. I sighed. Well, hopefully I could handle this diplomatically, assuming the ship-girl didn't just open fire the second she realized an Abyssal was within range.

One last time I tried hailing her, just to be absolutely certain that I hadn't screwed something up the first two times. Once again I broadcasted hailing frequencies on all channels, and once again I was met with the resounding sound of silence.

I shook my head and sighed. Well, it was worth a try.

I started up my engines and began maneuvering to intercept her. I could feel a bit of my old naval instincts kicking in, telling me that in order to get all my guns firing it would be best to sail perpendicular to her, but I managed to ignore the impulse. I didn't have guns, and the last thing I needed right now was to look threatening. I was within spotting range now, so there was no way the ship-girl didn't know I was here. If she hadn't started shooting already, it was unlikely she was going to start at all.

I still had to wonder why she refused to pick up on her radio though.

My radar array kept sweeping around, informing me with constant updates of the ship-girl's relative position. Twelve kilometers. Eleven. Ten. Eight.

As I drew within five kilometers I began to slow down, able to see her pretty easily even without my binoculars. And what I saw had my jaw dropping to the sea floor.

The ship-girl didn't have a bridge.

Her entire upper-body was covered in scorch marks, warping her deck and fraying her clothing to practically nothing. It would have been scandalous if the skin beneath hadn't also been burnt to a crisp, charred almost black in certain places.

An impact crater in her shoulder had left her right arm twisted at an unnatural angle, and I could see a gash running up the side of her keel where water was flooding in. She seemed to have it mostly under control, but now that I was closer I could see that she was obviously listing to one side.

But what really shocked me was her face, or really her lack of one. Her eyes were gone. Her ears were gone. Her nose and lips had been practically burnt away, to say nothing of the charred remains of her hair.

I felt my stomach twist just looking at the damage. How had she not sunk already? A small part of me noted that this at least explained the radio silence, and lack of course correction. The ship-girl was literally sailing blind.

I slowed to a halt as she got closer and closer, the distance between us rapidly closing to barely a hundred meters.

My breath caught in my throat as I got a better look at her hull and armor, a sensation passing through me. She seemed... familiar. I didn't know how to describe it, but I could swear I'd seen her somewhere before, almost like something out of a dream. Without warning, specs and schematics flew through my head, called up from the depths of my mind without any conscious effort on my part.

_Heavy cruiser. Sixteen-thousand ton displacement. Two hundred meters long. Four main turrets, two each on the fore and aft of the ship. Each mounted with twin eight-inch guns. Three Blohm and Voss steam turbines, powering three three-blade propellers._

I knew her. I don't know how, but somehow I knew her. We'd sailed together, fought together. I remembered seeing her off my bow, constantly checking in as we plowed through the waves of the North Sea together. Her name was on the tip of my tongue. So familiar. So recognizable. I'd know in an instant if I heard it.

The ship-girl glanced up as she finally came within spitting distance of me. Well, I say glanced up, but really she just looked around more alertly than before. I guess she must have felt the change in the waves, or maybe she'd felt the vibrations of my boilers. I don't know, all I knew was that my gut was twisting several different directions as I heard her call out to me.

"Hello?"

Her voice was raw and hoarse, undoubtedly mauled by the flames that had taken the rest of her bridge.

She looked… helpless. Alone. Undefended.

_Protect the cruiser._

_'Whoa! Slow down, she's a ship-girl.'_ I tried to remind myself._ '__Even blind and deaf, if an Abyssal just up and grabs her she's probably going to react violently. She doesn't have to see to hit you with those guns at this range.'_

I knew that. On a theoretical level I knew that. It would be a terrible idea to try and help her. Instead, I should just keep my distance and let her go on her way. This has nothing to do with me.

_Protect the cruiser._

I shook my head. _'__No. You do not need to protect her. You owe her no allegiance, no loyalty. She's literally done nothing to help you. You have no obligation to help her. No reason. None.'_

_'But...'_ a treacherous part of my mind spoke up. _'She's just a cruiser. I'm supposed to protect her.'_

That thought, that one thought, had me freezing in place. Indecision wracked my mind, the rational part of my brain warring with these half-remembered impulses that had been dredged up from the depths of my soul. In that moment I hesitated, and it cost me.

Because that moment of hesitation was all the time the ship-girl needed to take a few steps forward and close the gap between us.

"Are you there?" she asked, reaching out blindly, almost grabbing my arms. "Please, I know you're there."

I lurched back violently, a hiss spilling from between my lips. She was too close.

She must have heard me, her head spinning in my direction. "Hello?"

She took a step toward me. I took a step back.

She stopped, resting on the water and staring at me in confusion. "Are you British?" she finally asked, switching to English while doing her best to compose herself. "I'm KMS Admiral Hipper, heavy cruiser."

My breath caught in my throat. _Admiral Hipper. _I knew that name.

But she wasn't the one I knew. She wasn't with me when….

Her voice was trembling, but she still tried to act professional despite her obvious distress. "My convoy was attacked roughly sixty nautical miles south from here! I'm sure you saw the storm clouds."

Despite her attempted professionalism, her whole body was shaking. It looked like slowing down had caused her quite a few problems. If I had to guess, I'd say that the only reason she'd managed to make it this far was simply because the act of moving forward had allowed her to ignore the pain and exhaustion that had to be weighing on her. Now that she'd stopped, all that damage was finally catching up to her, and she didn't know how to take it.

"I-I think I'm in need of medical attention." She said. "I took a bomb to my keel, and I'm taking on water. Not to mention my…" She gestured to her face.

I felt like I was going to be sick.

"Please."

Her voice was weak. Her legs were shaking.

_Protect the cruiser._

"I-I think I'm going to sink."

_Protect the cruiser._

"Please, if you have any way to tow me, I would be most appreciative if you could- ah!" She gasped as she wobbled, the flooding in her forward compartments finally overbalancing her. Her keel tore even further as she was forced to put more weight on it, dragging a startled yelp from her lips.

My eyes followed her as she lost her balance and fell towards the water, her movements practically in slow motion to me.

_Protect. The. Cruiser._

One moment I was standing several meters away from her. The next she was in my arms.

The sea frothed and churned behind me, shaken up by the sheer speed at which I'd moved. I wrapped my arms tighter around the ship-girl, pulling her smaller body into my chest even as I felt her start to shiver and sob, no doubt terrified beyond belief.

_'This is stupid. You shouldn't be doing this, you should be-'_

Shut up.

Emotions that I didn't know how to describe crashed around inside me. Relief, fear, guilt, anger, joy, sorrow, all of it was a tempest within me. My eyes burned and crackled, and around me the sea began to darken as storm clouds started to roll in overhead.

But I didn't let the ship-girl go. I pulled her closer, clutched her tightly. I panicked as I felt her struggle for a second, before finally she let out a sigh and sagged into my hold. "Danke," she murmured.

Her rigging fell away from her as she fully relaxed into my chest, dissolving into sparkles of light that hung in the air. I stared at them for a second before shivering, adjusting myself a little as she wrapped one of her arms around my neck, the other dangling limply to the side as it hung out of its socket. I hugged her close, my arms supporting her lighter body weight. I was easily double or even triple her displacement, so lifting her out of the water was nothing to me. Her feet swung as they left the surface of the ocean, water pouring out from the tear in her hull as if she were a wet rag being wrung out to dry.

"You're so cold." She murmured in my ear. Her warm breath tickled my skin, but her words were slow and sluggish as her mouth struggled to move. "W-Why are you… so cold?"

I didn't know if she could hear me or not, but I hummed in her ear all the same. My hand came up to stroke what little remained of her hair, a subconscious act that I instinctively knew would calm her. She slowly faded into a daze, her cheek coming to rest on my bare shoulder.

My eyes were burning, and thanks to the darkening sky and sea I could see the orange light reflecting off the surface of the water. Rain began to patter against my cheek, the clouds above me darkening into a gloomy gray. I clutched the ship-girl tighter as she groaned. As long as I held her above the water she wouldn't sink, but her injuries were still serious. Her arm was no doubt giving her copious amounts of pain, while her face….

A small part of me, the last bit of rationality that I had left, warned me that I needed to get her back to the island as soon as possible. A growl rumbled up from my throat at the thought of anything happening to her, and I was about to turn back north when my radar pinged.

Ships were approaching, this time en masse and in formation.

A cold wind swept across the surface, buffeting my face. This was nothing like before. I felt a sense of unease creeping up my spine, an instinct that told me not to turn my back on my foe.

Now that I felt it, it was laughable to think that the cruiser in my arms could ever have been mistaken for an Abyssal. No, _this_ was what an Abyssal felt like. The cold of the depths. The lashing of the wind. The dark, uncompromising hatred that resonated in your soul.

It had only been a day, but I'd already forgotten how horrible it felt to be near them. As such, this sharp reminder felt more like a punch to the gut.

I winced as the sound of rattling bones lanced through my skull, accompanied by the fevered pitch of a radio hail. It seemed the Abyssals had seen me, and strangely enough they wanted to talk.

Wait, what was I saying? Of course they wanted to talk. _I _was an Abyssal.

_'You have no allegiance,_' I tried to remind myself one last time.

The ship-girl shivered in my arms, and I clutched her tighter. _Protect the cruiser._

Yeah, no allegiance my ass.

I tapped my ear, instantly creating a radio link between myself and the otherworldly ships. A sibilant voice echoed across the waves, hateful and unnatural, filling me to the brim with disgust.

_"__Sister. We hunt in the name of the Princess. Is that our quarry you have with you?"_

I didn't answer. The girl in my arms shivered and tightened her grip, instinctively fearing the monsters that were now cresting the horizon. I shushed her, rubbing her back in slow gentle circles, but I kept my eyes fixed on the encroaching fleet.

The radio crackled as again the Abyssal spoke, panic lacing her words this time.

_"__Wait, you- You are the Flagship!"_

I could feel the sights of numerous guns being turned and trained on me. They were faster than the ship-girl had been, and I could already see them as they crested the horizon. There were eight of them, all steaming in a perfectly straight line that was even now turning to match the horizon.

A growl rumbled through me as I counted them. Two battleships, two cruisers, and four destroyers. Quite the imposing fleet. Thankfully, I didn't hear the buzzing of aircraft, so hopefully that meant I wouldn't have to contend with an aircraft carrier as well.

Hopefully.

The Abyssal continued._ "__There is no reason for us to be enemies. We can see you have the cruiser within your grasp. Kill her, and our Princess will reward you greatly. Resist, and we will sink you."_

I froze.

The world seemed to fall away from me, until nothing was left but the cruiser wrapped in my arms. I could feel her tiny heart beating frantically against my chest, her head burrowing into the crook of my neck as she sought shelter from them, her natural enemy.

They wanted me to kill her?

_They wanted me to kill her?_

That- That was….

Deep within me I could feel something uncoil, surging to the surface like a leviathan stirred from its slumber.

A growl ripped from my throat as it surfaced, my lips pulled back in a snarl to bare my teeth to my enemy.

All around me the sea was beaten into a frenzy as metallic flesh burst through the surface, settling around my back and shoulders like an old friend come to greet me. Four great coiling maws stretched out around my sides, two on either side of me. Malevolent orange eyes stared out from each head, glaring at the Abyssals as they gnashed their teeth.

I felt power surge through me as my core ignited. I felt the hum of my secondary guns as they spun in their turrets, bristling out along my rigging like spears from the back of a whale. I felt my armor flex and stretch, alive in a way no ship-girl's could ever hope to be. I felt the maws of my main batteries snap as I loaded the guns, the length of their bodies awash with St. Elmo's Fire.

My grin was feral, filled with nothing but hate and malice. In that moment, I truly felt what it meant to be an Abyssal. I was a God of the waves. A Titan from the depths. A juggernaut of violence and wrath, here to deliver vengeance upon my foes.

But more than that, I felt whole. Complete. This is what I was supposed to be. This is what I was supposed to do.

The cruiser in my arms shook, and I hugged her tighter. I wouldn't let anyone harm her. I wouldn't let anything happen to her. I'd sink before I let that happen. I'd sink anything that even _tried_.

I turned to the lesser Abyssals, my eyes flaring with an unnatural fire. I felt them recoil, pulling back as I unshadowed my guns, the mouths of my rigging open wide in a snarl.

It's almost ironic that the very first word I ever spoke was directed not at a ship-girl, but at fellow Abyssals. I would later come to learn that it was one of their signature phrases, uttered in condemnation of their most hated foes. My voice was an ugly sound, hoarse and guttural from inactivity. But the message was simple enough, barked across the waves in a voice so loud that even a deaf man could hear.

"S I N K"

/-/

**This is part 1 of what was supposed to be a single chapter. Like I said back up top, apparently I'm doing 4k word chapters now. Yay. Lucky you.**


	5. Chapter 5

**LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, for your entertainment, I bring you - the chapter that almost killed me. Oh, wait, I'm already dead. Let me start again.**

**LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, for your entertainment, I bring you - the chapter that almost killed me ****again**_**.**_****

**Sorry this took so long to put out. **_**Multiple **_**rewrites tends to do that. I'm still not 100% about the state it's in, but at this point I don't think sitting on it any longer is going to do me any good. Better to just get it out there and move on.**

**One thing I should note before we begin: I know the ranges of the ship's main guns are ridiculous. For the sake of the story I have reduced these ranges drastically, sometimes by half or more. I don't want this story to become completely stupid. We can't have our characters lobbing shells at each other from 40km (~19 miles). While I'm sure that would be funny, it doesn't make for good entertainment. (This was one of the reasons the chapter was so hard to write. Changed several times AAAAAARGH)**

**And with that, enjoy. Or don't. I can't affect your personal opinions. Not until The DeviceTM is completed anyway.**

/-/

The churning of the waves. The crackling of fire. The rumble of the seas. All of these sounds and sensations flooded into my head, banging around like a cacophony of noise before being promptly discarded. All I could see were the ships on the horizon, the sight of their black hulls cutting through the waves the only thing that mattered to me.

I charged through the waves, my bow piercing the swells like a battering ram as shells landed around me. The rain and surf lashed across my decks, only to suddenly be parted by the shockwave generated by my main guns firing. Eight shells flew from between the lips of my turrets, their teeth bared to the sky in challenge.

The cruiser stirred against my chest, shaking in her sleep. I held her closer, tightening my arms around her back.

A growl rumbled through me as I stared at the black ships. They wanted to steal her away from me, sink her beneath the waves. They wanted to sink me too. Send me back down into the Abyss, back to the cold and dark - a place where I would never feel the warmth of the sun again.

My growl changed to a snarl as I raised my guns, elevating them into their firing positions. I had risen from those same depths, and I was determined to never return, come hell or high water.

And if the devil sent his envoys to try and claim my soul, well….

They would sink just the same.

My guns roared again, and I raised my voice alongside them, adding to the already deafening cacophony echoing all around me.

Come and kill me. I dare you to try. 

/-/

The Abyssal could recall with perfect clarity the day she had risen from the waves. She had been stirred from her resting place, drawn up from the depths by the melodic humming of her Princess. It had been... beautiful. Like a Siren's song it had called her forth, promising power and purpose the likes of which she'd never experienced in life.

She had emerged from the sea, blinking and gasping as water streamed from every pore. Her armor had been blessed with a gold finish, a sign of favor from her Princess, who had smiled down upon her like a benevolent goddess to her child.

She was an elite. Superior in every way. But today, for the first time in as long as she could remember, none of that mattered. Her speed, her strength, her weaponry – it all fell short.

For today she was facing a Flagship.

The monstrous ship stood on the horizon, her form silhouetted by fire like some Avatar of war. The black armor clinging to her form reflected the firelight, sending flickering lights dancing across the waves.

Sweat beaded on the back of her neck, her skin crawling. Even now, part of her was still insisting that they shouldn't be fighting this thing. They would be running away. The Princess would _surely _understand.

This wasn't a ship. This was a monster.

She crushed those thoughts. There was no denying her fear, but that only gave her a new edge, a sense of desperation. As the shells fell around her she bit her lip in panic. This _thing _they were fighting - what was it?

"What kind of monster did our Princess raise from the Abyss?" she mumbled as her guns belched out an answering volley, just one more to add to the already already she'd fired at the ungodly abomination. "A demon? The devil itself?"

She bit her lip as her shells cleared her barrels. This shouldn't be happening. They had more ships, more guns, more space, and more experience. Their enemy was but one ship, who was simultaneously towing another. This should have been over long before now.

So why did it feel like they were losing?

To her front and rear the other Abyssals let out volleys of their own, adding their considerable firepower to hers. In total, they numbered four heavy ship, the destroyers having split off from their formation when it became clear they wouldn't be able to inflict any effective damage with their guns. The smaller ships were only just now beginning to move closer to the Flagship, having sailed around the far side of the engagement ring in order to approach from behind.

The plan – and it galled her that they'd been forced to make a plan – was to keep the Flagship's focus squarely on them, giving the destroyers time to be able to get close and launch their torpedoes. Hopefully, with the Flagship's attention monopolized by the bigger ships, the destroyers would be able to use their smaller profiles to skirt under her radar array and get close.

They'd been forced to scatter after the first few volleys. By sailing in a tight formation they'd only made it easier for the Flagship to judge their distance and speed. And with no aircraft to keep her otherwise distracted, the fire that had come sweeping in had been… brutal.

Each shell that hit her felt like a blow from a Titan, forcing her backwards into the waves whenever they struck her sides, even as her armor strained to mitigate the damage. Only one shell had managed to penetrate so far, punching straight through her upper belt and detonating within her superstructure. She rubbed the wound even now, the lancing pain a smart reminder of the danger this foe held.

She pulled her hand back before her fingers could become slick with the black ichor she was leaking.

The rest of her flotilla was taking their cues from her, firing only when she did in order to maximize the likelihood of striking the Flagship. So far it seemed to be working. The Flagship had yet to target the cruisers, which at least allowed them to maintain their superior rate of fire. She watched as their shots fell towards the Flagship, her binocular sight enabling her to spot any bursts of light that would indicate a fire.

Her eyes lingered on the Flagship's form, shivering as she took in the sight of the jet-black armor covering her from bow to stern. Only her shoulders and upper thighs were bare, the pale white skin contrasting sharply with the obsidian black. A strange fin-like hat sat upon her head, nestled amongst a crown of horns that ringed her scalp.

Oddly enough, the Flagship's armor possessed none of the usual coloration that would denote an Abyssal's rank and status. Instead, the darkness of the armor was almost pervasive, practically oozing off the ship with every move she made. Not even the sickly green light of the St. Elmo's fire wrapped around her main batteries was able to penetrate the inky blackness - but at least the light of the fire was enough to illuminate her. Or, at least enough to target her.

She glared at the Flagship as their eyes met. Eerie orange eyes glared back at her, the only hint of color on her otherwise pale face. The twin spots of light pierced through the darkness like trails of an arrow, almost pinning her in place with their intensity.

Those same eyes narrowed as lightning flashed above the Flagship, illuminating what was by far the strangest factor in this whole engagement.

There, clutched tightly to the Flagship's chest, was their original quarry. The ship-girl trembled in the arms of the Abyssal, seeking comfort where she should by all rights find none. But instead of casting her aside, like any sane Abyssal would have, the Flagship instead clutched her closer, growling almost possessively whenever anything so much as even came close to touching the cruiser.

As if to prove her point, a clawed hand swiped a shell out of the air, batting the fireball away from the cruiser's head mere moments before it would have struck her. The Flagship's growl rumbled across the water, the intensity of her eyes increasing by a degree.

When the shells from their bombardment finally stopped landing, the Flagship drew herself up, the four gaping maws of her turrets swinging around to point directly at her. She snarled a challenge at the Flagship but tensed nevertheless, knowing full well that she was about to be in a world of pain.

And then the world shook as the Flagship's guns opened fire.

They should not be that loud. No guns should ever be that loud. Their roars were like the bellows of a dragon woken from its slumber, ready to maim and burn. And like a dragon, the shots fired from the gaping maws hurtled through the air like fireballs. They landed all around her, boiling the sea even as she ducked and swayed to avoid them.

A cry was ripped from her throat as a shell struck her in the stern. Her armor did its job, preventing most of the damage, but she still shuddered in pain as the shell detonated. Minor fires sprang up all over her rigging, knocking out several secondary gun batteries and killing even more of her crew. She grit her teeth and bore with the pain, staring spitefully back at the damned ship.

Then the sound of static entered her ears, her radio towers buzzing with energy.

Her hand snapped up to her ear as the chittering sounds of destroyers streamed in over her radio. No words were spoken by the little ships - they weren't intelligent enough for speech - but the meaning was still conveyed. They were finally within torpedo range.

Her smile spread across her face as the destroyer continued. Their plan had worked - the destroyers had managed to remain undetected by the Flagship's radar. She didn't know they were there.

Incredible news.

She smiled wickedly as she tapped her radio tower, switching from sending to receiving_. "Commence your attack,"_ she hissed, receiving another series of clicks that provided an affirmation of her orders. Changing frequencies, she turned to address the rest of her ships in the formation. _"__Sisters. Form up on me. We're going to charge her."_

There was a few moments of silence, before the Ru-class dared speak up. _"__Charge? But we're barely holding on as it is. We won't survive a-"_

_"We need the Flagship distracted so the destroyers can do their job." _She rubbed the wound in her side, her blood boiling at the warm ichor still flowing out of the gash. "_She won't be getting away. Not after what she's done. Form up."_

Slowly, the ships turned to face the Flagship, pointing the noses at the target while their engines began to rev. Soon they were steaming forward at full speed, and the Abyssal took the opportunity to fire her rear turrets for the last time before she fully devoted herself to the charge.

The Flagship rumbled angrily as she saw them approaching. Her arms tightened around the cruiser pressed to her chest, leaning forward to protect the wounded ship from any incoming fire. The Abyssal grinned to herself as she saw the dark ship stiffen, orange eyes flashing like a cornered animal. Around her, the other battleship and cruisers began to open up, adding their fire to her own. The sea churned around the Flagship as she ducked and weaved, many of the shots missing but a few striking her side.

"Burn." The Elite whispered in satisfaction as she saw the Flagship grit her teeth.

And then the monstrous ship returned fire.

It was an awesome sight to witness - as one, her secondaries opened up, filling the air with the maddening sound of gunfire. So bright were the muzzle flashes that for a brief moment the Flagship was silhouetted on the horizon, haloed by brilliant white light like some bizarre angel of death.

The Elite braced herself as the shells hurtled towards them, only to blink in surprise as they sailed past her overhead.

What was going on? Why hadn't the Flagship fired at her? She was the lead ship in the squadron, and had opened fire first. Surely she'd done enough to draw the attention of the-

_"Help!"_

The Abyssal's head snapped to the side, her jaw clenching as she saw one of the Ne-class cruisers withering under the hail-fire of secondaries. The cruiser gasped in pain as the shells battered her frame, shredding her rigging and in one spot actually shearing part of her hull off. _"I'm burning!" _the cruiser screamed._"I don't think I can-"_

Her words were cut off as the Flagship's main batteries fired. The hateful shells hurtled through the air before slamming down on the cruiser's head, all eight shots bracketing her body. They cut straight through her deck armor like it wasn't even there, boring into her innards before finally detonating.

Within seconds, the Ne-class cruiser was turned from a charging Abyssal into a towering pillar of fire. Her cries rattled across the sea as she withered under the heat of her own burning fuel cells. Her misery was cut short as her ammunition depots ignited, the shockwave of the secondary explosion whipping the Abyssal Elite's hair back.

What remained of the cruiser's rigging was sent hurtling high into the air, sailing hundreds of meters up before finally crashing back to the sea in a titanic spray of surf.

The Abyssals could only stare in numb horror at where their sister had just stood. One shot. It had taken only one shot from the Flagship's main batteries to completely annihilate the cruiser.

What kind of monstrous accuracy did those guns have? It had to be more than the ten kilometers of her own. The Abyssal Elite checked her rangefinders.

Fifteen kilometers. Fifteen kilometers away, and already the Flagship's guns had become accurate enough to hit them dead on.

She growled under her breath as the rest of the squadron looked to her for orders. With the cruiser dead they'd effectively lost one quarter of their total firepower. This charge was suddenly beginning to look less and less like a diversionary action and more like a suicide run. They either needed to get back out of her accurate range, or get much, much closer. Until they reached that ten kilometer mark they were sitting ducks, unable to fire accurately but able to receive fire in return.

Ironically enough, she was now hoping the Flagship would spot the destroyers - it was their turn to need a distraction. 

/-/

The roar of my main battery guns echoed again, my secondaries following suit shortly afterward, resounding in my ears as they finally began to open up fully. The black ships were closer now, trying to finally get within range to actually hurt me.

My teeth split into a feral grin. Good. Let them come. The closer they got, the easier it became to shoot them.

My eyes flashed as I scanned for a target.

_There. A cruiser. Weaker armor, higher speeds. Closer than the battleships._

My guns roared, their voices like rolling thunder as the shells sped off, slamming into the cruiser and setting her ablaze. I grinned as her screams filled the air, the sound of her pain bringing joy to my frantically beating heart. Flames towered high into the sky, warming me even from this distance.

By the light of the fire I was able to see the battle more clearly, just in time to notice the streaks of bubbles hurtling towards me.

My heart skipped a beat.

The world around me might as well have not existed as I stared at the line of bubbles streaking through the waves, racing just beneath the surface. I knew what they were, knew what they could do. My mind automatically assigned a name to the things, turning my blood to ice

_Torpedoes_.

Not again. Please, not again.

A scream ripped from my throat as I shook my head. The sea thrashed around me, worked into a frenzy by the beating of my heart. I surged forward, desperate to get out of the path of those monstrous instruments.

I hated them. Hated what they could do to me. They'd hit me again, disable me, flood my compartments with the cold waters of the sea.

They would sink me.

No! I wouldn't let them.

The water churned, sending the hateful tubes scattering every which way. There were so many of them, but the currents generated by my feet were strong. Many were knocked off course, but even more stayed true. I watched as three hurtled towards me, only barely managing to twist my way around them.

Just in time to end up directly in the path of the two behind them.

I could only gasp as they hit me, the warheads exploding just beneath the waterline. For a second I felt nothing, my mind failing to register the damage. Then the sensation hit me.

Pain. All I knew was pain.

My world went white, and I had the vague impression that I was screaming at the top of my lungs. The cruiser in my arms squeezed me tight, trying desperately to hold on as I reeled in the waves. My armored bulkheads had done a good job holding back the force of the warheads, but already I could feel the sea rushing in through the tears in my hull. I ground my teeth together, my serrated fangs chipping against each other as I tried to hold on to my senses.

The pain was a shock to my system, but already I could feel my damage control teams hard at work closing the breach. Armored doors were sealed, valves were shut off, and pumps began to bellow as the water was shunted away, forced out of my body and back into the sea.

My head cleared as I stabilized myself, correcting my course and regaining my bearings. I bared my teeth as I scanned the waves. Who had launched those torpedoes? Who had dared hurt me like that?

There. Crouching among the swells, almost hidden by the rise and fall of the sea were four tiny destroyers. Their eyes glared up at me from where they sat low in the water, filled with malice and hate.

I blinked in surprise. How had they managed to get so close? Surely my radar would have warned me-

No. Of course it wouldn't. My radar had been occupied with the ships on the horizon, and it was terrible at detecting more than one ship at a time. The destroyers were small enough that they'd managed to get close without me seeing them.

How dare they. _How dare they?_

My eyes burned with fire.

Destroy them.

In seconds I was upon them. The destroyers reeled in the water, unprepared for my sudden charge. They opened up with their guns, but it was a futile effort. Even firing from such close range, they would never be able to penetrate my armor. My teeth gleamed bright in the firelight, my mouth stretched into a frenzied grin as I felt their shells shatter on my armor.

The cruiser shivered in my arms, no doubt sensing the incoming fire.

I frowned, breaking out of my frenzy for just a moment. While the shells were harmless to me, the same could not be said of the undefended cruiser.

_Protect the cruiser._

Again that voice echoed in my head, prompting action where my instincts continued to fail me. My rigging stretched and bent, coiling around the cruiser and hiding her away from view. The bodies of the great turrets were thick and well armored. They would provide ample protection while I dealt with these pests.

Although it meant I would be unable to use my main batteries for a minute, I was far from worried. My secondaries roared in their place, tearing apart the waves and slicing through the disgusting little ships.

The sea turned black with their blood, ichor spilling across the waves as they were ripped apart. I rained death down upon them, heedless of their cries. Several tried to fire their second set of torpedoes, but I was moving too quickly for them to hit, dodging around the evil little tubes as they streamed by harmlessly. One by one they fell, sinking into the waves with cries of anguish on their lips, until finally only a sole survivor remained.

It limped through the waves pathetically, black ichor leaking from a hole in its hull. Both its turrets had been knocked out, trailing sadly along in the water behind it.

It stared up at me, eyes filled with the hatred of the Abyss. With what must have been a herculean effort, it gathered itself up and launched itself from the waves. Its seal-like body arched through the air, teeth exposed as its jaw yawned. No doubt this was a last ditch effort to try and inflict some final damage upon me.

The holes in my side burned, and my eyes flashed with fire.

It had made two mistakes. The first was that it had launched itself at my chest, angled directly for the cruiser. While I was confident my rigging could hold it back, I refused to take any chances.

The second was that it assumed its wrath could equal my own. It could not.

Two of my turret batteries flashed out, the great maws striking like vipers as they snatched the Abyssal out of the air. For a moment it was suspended before me, held tightly in my teeth even as it thrashed and growled angrily. I stared into its eyes, not wavering even a second even as spittle and blood splattered across my face from its open mouth.

Its furious cries soon turned to shrieks of pain as my teeth bit into it, slowly pulling it apart piece by piece. The groaning and rasping of metal rent the air as I physically pulled the ship apart, showering both the sea and myself with yet more Abyssal blood.

With a final snap the destroyer came apart, the two halves hanging sadly from the mouths of my guns. Without another thought I tossed them aside, humming in satisfaction as they sank beneath the waves. My attention was drawn back to the enemy ships as my radar pinged again.

I turned my head to face them. They were practically on top of me now, their shells filling the sea with fire as they closed to just a scant few kilometers. Any closer and this was going to turn into a fist fight.

"Load," I rumbled. My guns dipped obediently, patiently finishing their reloading cycles even as shells landed all around me. I winced as a shell hit me square on the top of my head, only the angled armor of my fin-cap-thing saving my bridge from a devastating strike. I rubbed the top of my head, feeling the burning on the metal rapidly disappear as my armor returned to its normal ice-cold temperatures.

I pulled the cap down a little tighter, never more thankful for my unusual choice of clothing than now.

My turrets raised up, fresh and ready to fire. I scanned the waves, my eyes finally alighting on the closest of the two battleships. Her bright green eyes peered through a forest of black hair, such appealing targets - targets that at this range I couldn't possibly miss!

"Fire." 

/-/

The sea burned around her as the Ne-class cruiser sailed closer towards the flagship. She and the two battleships were the only ones still alive, the corpses of the destroyers sinking beneath the waves even now. That was fine, though. They'd served their purpose. Even from this distance she'd been able to see the damage inflicted by the torpedo strikes, and though it wasn't the crippling blow they'd been hoping for it had slowed the monstrous ship down enough that they could easily target her.

Her guns began to fire again even as she was deafened by the sound of the Flagship, the larger shells hurtling forth from the mouths of her cannons like bolts of lightning. She watched as they struck the Ru-class battleship in front of her, most of the shells colliding with her armor but one scraping the side of her head. The shell landed a few hundred meters on the starboard side bow, detonating beneath the surface.

For a moment, the Ru-class continued to move forward. Then, like a puppet cut from its strings, it dropped to the surface, kneeling in the waves

She winced as the Elite hailed her. _"__Ne-class cruiser, what's wrong with the Ru-class? Why has she stopped?"_

It only took her a few seconds to see why. Her breath caught in her throat.

A neat hole was drilled right through the Ru-class's head, straight between her eyes and out the other side. What she'd thought had been a glancing blow to her head must have actually gone clean through it and out the other side. There was nothing left of the back of the battleship's head, the interior of her head blown out by the concussive force of the shell.

_"__S-She's dead." She answered. "Her bridge, it's just…gone."_

A round of secondary fire swept over both her and the remains of the Ru-class. She yelped as the shells bracketed the water around her, thankfully missing her but striking the Ru-class's corpse.

The shell of the battleship fell back in the water, knocked over by the force of the blows. The cruiser watched in mute horror as the ship bobbed in the waves, her crew slowly falling silent as water flooded in through her cracked skull.

Without another word the battleship slipped beneath the waves, vanishing from view as she sank into the depths.

The cruiser was shaken out of her shock as her radio tower crackled to life. _"__Forget about the battleship. Ne-class, form up with me. We're going to sink this thing!"_

The cruiser practically choked on her own tongue. _"__Sink her? But there's only two of us left! There's no way we can-"_

_"__What choice do we have?! There's no chance to get away now!"_

Her breath caught in her throat. She was right; they were too close.

_"__R-Right!" _The cruiser nodded and stood, her body swaying as she turned to face the Flagship.

She had to squint to even see. The horizon was a curtain of fire, the monstrous ship silhouetted by the towering flames like the avatar of some fiery god of war. Her black form was flanked on either side by the gaping maws of her guns, flames pouring from their eyes as they snarled. The heads of her cannons were bowed low as they reloaded, but the eyes of each of them glared at her with a vicious hunger.

A pair of brilliant orange eyes stared out from the Flagship's face, the glow of her irises just bright enough to illuminate the jagged shape of her smile. Blood drenched her body, both the destroyers' and her own.

The cruiser glanced across her bow as the Elite battleship steamed past her, a growl rumbling from deep within the stronger Abyssal's core. The mighty warship was battered and beaten, but still she remained strong. The Ne-class bit down on her fear, readying her own weapons as the Flagship finally finished reloading.

This was it. This was the end. In the next few seconds, someone was going to sink.

As the secondary guns of the Flagship opened fire, she answered them with a salvo of her own. By the towering light of the flames, she could see the splashes in the water where her shots missed. They were joined seconds later by the larger plumes made by the Elite's guns, though most of those managed to hit. The Flagship roared in pain as they struck her, before the pain turned to anger as the massive jaws of her main batteries finally opened.

The sea shook with the force of the guns firing, the waves and rain parting in a shockwave cone around the barrels as the shells hurtled out.

The cruiser jerked as something struck her in the gut, and suddenly her feet lifted off the waves as whatever it was tore through her stern like it was made of paper. She slid back across the waves, her feet barely skimming the surface before she finally fell to her knees, cradling her stomach.

Or, rather, cradling where her stomach used to be.

She glanced back to the Elite, seeing her staggering in place. One eye was missing, along with practically half her face, and her left arm was hanging limply from her side. Black ichor dripped down her rigging, staining the brilliant gold finish of her armor an ugly gray.

But still the Elite stood strong.

The cruiser watched as she let out a scream, unleashing one last salvo from her guns. The shells battered the Flagship, smoke rising from her rigging as fires erupted across her superstructure. The Elite's grin was vicious and filled with blood as she stared at the damage she'd wrought. The Flagship's batteries swung back down into their reloading positions, and this close to the Flagship they could hear the monstrous machinations echoing within the machines as the shells were loaded.

_"I die for my Princess."_ The Elite coughed out, blood spilling down her chin even as she smiled mockingly at the devil before her. _"What would you have died for?" _She nodded to the shivering cruiser still clutched in the Flagship's arms, earning her a growl.

_"Is it her? Really? Do you truly think the humans will have you, even if you bring them one of their own?"_

The Flagship's growl was primal, guttural, and filled with malice. When she spoke, it was like the Abyss itself was echoing in her words, every syllable delivered with undeniable conviction.

"I don't care. Sink."

Her guns swung up.

The last thing the cruiser saw was the Elite erupting into a pillar of fire.

She sighed. It seemed that even an Abyssal Elite wasn't able to stand up to a Flagship. For some reason, a smile painted her lips as she fell back into the waves, almost welcoming their cool embrace as she slowly sank beneath the surface. She stared up at the water above her, watching the light from the fires dance around upon the waves.

It wasn't the worst way to die, she decided.

A final giggle escaped her lips, lost forever to the churning of the waves. 

/-/

**Eh. Now that I've edited it the chapter turned out better than I thought I would. I'll need a cooldown chapter before I write another combat one, so expect the next chapter to be shorter and less... I dunno, intense? Also, two tests next week, so that means studying hard for me. Have good Easters everyone (in case I don't update before Friday).**


End file.
